(02-03-2018 01:45 AM)chargeradio Wrote:  

(02-02-2018 10:39 PM)quo vadis Wrote:  I know that this is an "if" thread so it is nonsensical to post with "P5 will never all go to 16 teams", so my apologies to the OP, but ...

That's how I feel: If all the Power conferences ever have 16 schools, it will be because they consolidated to a P4.

That's because if the P5 did it, the current schools would, in effect, be cutting their own pay by 20%, because they would have expanded the number of power teams by roughly 25%.

And that ain't happening.

I agree. But just for fun:

PAC 12 adds UNLV, Colorado State, New Mexico, Boise State
B1G adds Virginia, North Carolina
SEC adds NC State, Virginia Tech
ACC adds Oklahoma, Texas, TCU, Houston, UConn, Notre Dame as a full member
Big 12 adds Tulsa, SMU, Memphis, USF, UCF, East Carolina, Cincinnati, Tulane

Wichita State joins the Atlantic 10 and Navy reverts to Independence.

MWC adds Idaho and New Mexico State.

If the Big 12 loses three to fall to seven, adding eight only gets them to 15, so you'd need another school. Air Force football would be the most obvious choice, though maybe they add a fourth southeast school to form a pod with USF/UCF/ECU, unless you count Cincinnati or West Virginia with those schools.

Wait! BYU! They'd almost certainly get the first call in this scenario. I'd bump Tulsa, SMU or Tulane to include them and Air Force.

Southwest: Texas Tech/Baylor/Kansas/Oklahoma State
Northwest: BYU/Air Force/Kansas State/Iowa State
East Coast: West Virginia/USF/UCF/ECU
Mid-South: Cincinnati/Memphis/Tulane/SMU

Obviously Kansas-KState is a protected rivalry. I'd think Tulsa is the odd AAC program out because of size, relative lack of athletic success and that Okie State would do what it could to keep them out. Air Force is probably the only MWC school they'd consider (maaaaaybe Wyoming or Nevada but both have issues). I'm sure the CUSA/MAC/Sun Belt schools would be dry-cleaning their go-to-church clothes but none of them are obvious adds at this point.

Navy would also be an obvious add but who do you bump for them? They like playing Tulane/SMU/Tulsa, which is why they're in the AAC's western division. Maybe ECU?

Or you could get really wacky and give Navy, AF and Army their own pod. Not sure how a three-team pod works in a 16-team conference, but if they think it's worth it, then they'll find a way.